HEY!!! Ignition Guru's, Over here please!! I need help!!!
 

Here's the deal.
My L1 will absolutely NOT fire. I have replaced, plugs, wires and coil, but it still will not fire. I have even swaped out ecu's and it still will not fire. Is there a fuse that is on the L1 wire to the coil or something? I have looked at conections and to me they look fine. I am thinking its a wire somewhere. I was also thinking maybe some type of fuse??? Please help. This is the 89GXL.
Charles

perhaps it's bad wiring TO the coil?

L1 is firing but not L2? And you replaced the ENTIRE module, coil and ignitors?

Edit: L2 is firing but not L1?

yep, thats what I did J-Rat.
Charles

L1 has to fire with L2, and vice versa. If one isn't working, the other won't as well.

How are you proving that it doesn't fire.

Well I'm sorry but the only way I have to check anything is wid the timing light. from the output on the L1, NOTHING!! From out put on the L2, WOW it works fine. AND it does this with two diferent coils, two different sets of wires, and two different ECU's. I know what Should happen, but what IS happening doesn't correspond with anything! I am thinking some kind of wire problem.
Charles

Timing lights are not a good way to check for spark. Get a spark checker from any auto store...Not more than a few $$.

I bet you'll find that it's working fine.

lick your finger, stick it in the L1 plug, then lick your other finger and ground yourself to the frame, you'll find out in a hurry if it's working ;) Ok, if you're not that brave, do what Aaron suggested. Perhaps clean the connections for the coils and make sure they're good, and see if that helps any, otherwise, as Aaron said, it should fire with L2.

WOW! Thats nothing short of BIZARRE...

Rat

I disagree, to a point. The use of an inductive timing light is a fairly (notice I said FAIRLY) good way to determine spark. Although I cant for the life of me figure out why L2 would fire and not L1. Especially after everything was changed out. Correct me if I am wrong, but dont they fire at the same time?

Rat

Make sure you have a defibrillator handy....

J-rat: I don't mean to be off subject here, but what in the world do you have a cat for an avatar for when your handle is J-Rat!? Arch nemesis? And yes, they do fire at the same time.

Actually, its my cat. And I was just looking around for some more pictures of rats, but I cant find any. So I just put him up there for the time being. Soon as I get something good, I am gonna change it..

Rat

Now this is a stuart little moment, a rat who owns a cat. Impressive. I just thought of something, do both L1 & L2 fire off the same signal wire from the ECU or from seperate signal wires? Perhaps one is burnt out? If I had the time to check the FSM I'd look for myself but it'd take me a while to dig it up, and if anyone else knows for sure it'd be a good place to look.

Leads
 

The wire to the leading coil is a 2-wire plug. One side is constant 12v so I think that eliminates the seperate signal theory. I think the other side is a switching ground that expands and collapses the magnetic field to generate the spark. Hence one coil and 2 ignitors (theoretically i am gonna check the FSM). DAMN....where is HAILERS when you need him..

Is that avatar better?

Rat

Damn straight! Nice :D Well, I never looked closely at the plug, so that seems extremely strange, perhaps there isn't enough current/power there to power both L1 & L2? I'm running out of ideas!

Yank the L1 plug and check for spark against the shock tower bolts to be sure. You might be worring over nothing.


How does the car run? Good? Bad?

Okay, the FSM says that the leadings fire dependently of each other. So if one is firing the other has to fire also. One side is in fact the 12V coil voltage. The ignition doesnt run so much on amperage as it does voltage. The coil is a huge spiral of wire that generates voltage by magnetism (induction). As the ground is applied to the other side of the coil, the collapse of the magnetic field generates a large amount of voltage (10,000 or better) but not alot of current. 10,000 volts at any signifigant amount of current would kill even the dumbest redneck that grabs the plug wire while the motor is running. I am searching for a schematic of the ignition system right now, but I believe that the ignitors are there to route the voltage to the plugs. They would have to provide an exact resistance match in order to effectively distribute the spark by a factor of 2. Two loads in parallel with the voltage should drop it by 1/2 and allow the voltage to be split in half. Please HAILERS...Jump in ANYTIME!

Rat

That's what I said. The leadings have to fire together. But he didn't believe me. *shrug*

O.K.
Listen to me very, very, VERY CAREFULLY! You said it wont fire unless they BOTH fire TOGETHER. Well I did the testing and guess what. It does fire, BUT it only fires when the timing light comes on. and that is like every 5-6 seconds. only once. And L2 fires continually like it should, in the little strobe way. Now let me say this ONE More TIME. L1 does not fire in Two coils that I have used, with two different wires and plugs. You put your point accross when you said this cannot happen Aaron. Now let me make my point very clear as well. This IS happening! I have no idea why it is happening or how but it is and I need someone who knows alot about this shit to help me figure out why. I know I am sounding like a jackass but it seems like if I don't ever sound like a jackass noone on this forum beleives what is happening with this car. Please be open minded here and help me figure out what the hell is happening.
regards,
Charles

Disable your trail coil assy and start the car. Now tell me both are not firing while the engine runs.

Or pull the non firing lead wire out of the bore of the coil assy and lay its end barely in the bore of the coil assy. Start the car. Now tell me you don't see a arc b/t the end of the wire and the coil assy.

One or none.

Well how damn interesting. With both of the connections by the trailing coil diconected, the car runs better. WTF? But I still don't get the only a spark every once in awhile thing. It is still happening.

Tell me what I need to fix Hailers.

Think you may have answered your own question..

Edit: with only the leading coil, does the motor jump around in the mounts? Is it idling nice and smooth?

It still idles rough but I don't get whats happening.
Charles.